Two chimpanzees at a Nebraska zoo attacked a keeper and bit off two of her fingers, police said on Saturday.
The keeper at the Riverside Discovery Center in Scottsbluff, Neb., on Friday afternoon was petting a 40-year-old chimpanzee who apparently did not want to be touched, according to police.
When the chimp grabbed the keeper's hand, the keeper started screaming, causing the chimp to scream, police said. This attracted another chimp, who also grabbed the keeper's hand.
The chimps bit, and the keeper lost her index finger and a ring finger on one hand at the knuckles, police said. The middle finger had a laceration but was not bitten off.
Anne James, executive director of the western Nebraska zoo, said the woman's fingers were recovered, and she was taken to a Scottsbluff hospital for treatment.
James told the Scottsbluff Star Herald the injuries were not “life threatening” and that surgeons in Denver may try to reattach the digits.
She said the incident was the first attack involvning the zoo's chimps.
